Post 41 - Tit For Tat

Posted on Tue Jun 23rd, 2020 @ 8:34pm by Captain Björn Kodak & Lieutenant Commander Jason Morris
Edited on on Sat Jun 27th, 2020 @ 9:01pm

Mission: Episode 1 - The Metreon Paradox
Location: USS Adelphi - Bridge
Timeline: Concurrent with Post 37

[USS-Adelphi]
[Bridge]
[Concurrent with Post 37]

Morris sat at the ops station on the bridge, he was the senior officer on the bridge and currently in charge of the ship but he was leaning back in his seat and relaxing. The crew were doing their jobs without problems and there was nothing happening around the ship that was of note so he was relaxing while he had the chance. Morris was half-sitting/laying while his mind wondered thinking of everything around him as he was humming songs softly to himself.

While it was true that -- with the Captain and First Officer meeting with the Haakonians and the Chief Engineer and his Away Team currently off ship -- nothing earth shattering was currently happening, that didn't mean there wasn't a lot of work to do. Sickbay was still inundated with injured and malnourished Talaxians, not to mention seeing to the injuries sustained by the Adelphi's crew during the Haakonian attack. Repairs were also underway aboard the Adelphi itself, with Oliveria's repair crews reporting up to the Bridge at regular intervals. As for the Bridge crew, junior officers were now slotted in where their seniors had been, providing relief duty while their higher-ranked counterparts were busy attending to other matters onboard the Bolitx. And it was the relief officer at Tactical who suddenly spoke up, breaking into the reverie of Morris' self-singing.

"Sir, the Bolitx seems to be moving away from us. Well, 'moving' is a strong word. More like..." Ensign Davies chose his words more carefully this time, "drifting away from us. It's possible their station-keeping thrusters are malfunctioning but if they move too much, they'll drift beyond the range of our shield bubble." Which, at the moment, was the only thing keeping the Haakonians from firing on the Bolitx.

"Sir, should I adjust our course to compensate?" Ensign Luukaron -- a Benzite breathing into twin tubes rising from an apparatus on his chest -- turned to ask from the conn.

"Adjust our course to match theirs. Stand-by tractor beam if they start gaining speed away from us, and send a message to the away team and find out why they are drifting away." Morris said looking up at the main viewer, "Put the Bolitx ship on screen please."

"Aye sir," Davies replied. The tactical officer worked his console, transmitting the requested message to the away team before putting the Bolitx on the viewscreen.

"Uh, sir..." Luukaron -- who'd turned back to his console -- sounded a bit confused as he reported, "the Talaxian vessel is returning to its previous position."

"Incoming message from the Bolitx," Davies spoke up again. "They report a slight issue with their control thrusters. The issue has been reported to the away team for assistance, however."

"Does nothing on their vessel function correctly?" Luukaron replied from the helm, turning again to Morris. "I realize they've been in a firefight, but you would think thrusters would be an essential system to keep operational."

Morris looked at the viewscreen as the ship moved back into position. "That would be one of the first things I was working on if it were my ship," he said as he sat at his console I wonder what's going on over there? "Send a message directly to Lieutenant Olivera and ask him if he needs any more assistance."

He then turned towards the tactical officer and stood up from his console Better take the extra security, walking towards the middle of the bridge. "If they start moving again grab them with the tractor beam."

Stopping in the middle of the bridge he turned towards the science station. I'll scan the area and reassure myself. "Scan the area for anything that might be leaking from there ship please, and rescan the Bolitx ship."

"Aye, sir," Davies nodded from tactical. "Scanning now, tractor beam ready." Several long moments passed before he spoke up again. "Scans complete. I'm picking up a slight increase in metreon radiation, but it's difficult to ascertain from where."

"They're on the move again," Luukaron announced. "Oddly, their thrusters are firing without issue. They must be choosing this course..."

"The radiation is interfering with the tractor beam," Davis reported. "Can't establish a lock. And...damnit," he suddenly sounded alarmed, "that radiation is spiking! Sir...the away team!" His meaning was clear: Oliveria and his team were at extreme risk.

"Open a channel to the ship," Morris said and looked at the tactical officer then to the helm officer. "Call the Captain to the bridge, Helm move us with there ship, keep them within our shields." Wait, didn't the Haakonian's use Metreon weapons "Red Alert, stand by weapons." Morris stared at the view screen trying to rapidly think of all the possible things that could be happening right then. "Keep scan for anything, scan the Haakonian's ship."

The doors to the briefing room swished open then, admitting Kodak, Lenek, Karim, and Va'trel. The latter was gestured to the auxiliary seat usually reserved for Karim while the Captain got a bead on exactly what was happening from Morris. It didn't take long to get brought up to speed as the Captain took his own seat, nodding to the information being fed to him.

"Mr. Morris, keep trying to raise the away team. Mr. Davies," the Captain looked to the man at tactical, "are we able to get a transporter lock on our people?" As the tactical officer considered that, it was to the First Officer that Kodak then turned. "Those strange traces of metreon radiation we picked up. They must have been the result of something the Talaxians were doing over there. Something we missed in our initial visit?" He knew that, without further data, Lenek would be just as in the dark as he was but it helped to sound things out.

"The radiation is preventing us from establishing a lock on the away team, sir," Davies reported back. "We'd need them to deploy pattern enhancers if we were to have any chance of cutting through that radiation."

"Alright. We have to assume the away team is taking actions to secure their own safety. In the mean time, let's--" Kodak's reply was interrupted as the image on the viewscreen shifted.

Thanks to a sudden impulse burst, the Bolitx had completely moved beyond the Adelphi's shield bubble and, with an angry shudder, released a dark purple wave of energy that traversed the space between the Talaxian ship and the Justiciar. The cloudish-wash of metreonic energy buffeted the Haakonian ship and set off just about every alarm possible on the Adelphi's bridge.

"Detecting...oh god. It's a metreon cascade, sir!" Davies reported alarmingly from tactical. "The Haakonian vessel will be completely enveloped in...three minutes," he explained after checking the math. "We--"

Before Davies could report further, flashes of weapons fire lanced out from the Justiciar on screen. The luminous flaring of a small missile crossed the distance between the two ships, slamming into the hull of Bolitx and causing the ship to suddenly list, its gases venting into space. A shield bubble then snapped into existence around the Haakonian ship as it turned to reorient their weapons for another strike. Sadly, the shield bubble could do nothing to stop the growing cloud of radiation slowly blossoming around the point of initial bombardment on their hull.

"Va'trel, we obviously didn't know this was going to happen. And we'll deal with the fallout when it's safe. For now," Kodak explained quickly but with an even keel, "I need you to tell your people to stand down. We need the shields lowered if we're going to beam your people off the ship." He didn't need to explain that the Justiciar was, for all intents and purposes at this point, lost. Kodak surmised the Haakonian would know exactly what this damnable weapon was capable of doing to all organic life onboard.

Little in the way of words were minced as Va'trel urgently relayed orders to his crew. The shield bubble around the Justiciar dropped as suddenly as it had sprung to life.

"Thank you," Kodak said to Va'trel sincerely, setting aside thoughts of what he imagined would be a very uncomfortable conversation to come. "Mr. Morris, Mr. Davies...begin transporting the Haakonians over. Use every transporter we have: including those on the shuttles and runabouts," the Captain ordered. "Gather everyone together in Cargo Bay 2 for the moment. Quick as you can," he rasped, knowing that even with all of the transporter rooms, cargo bays, and auxiliary craft using their transporters, they wouldn't be able to save everyone. "Status of Bolitx?" he asked.

It was Luukaron who replied, having modified the helm to show sensor readouts while Davies was busy working with Morris to coordinate the ongoing transports. "The Haakonians' weapons fire has apparently destabilized the metreon weapon, Captain. I am detecting a metreon cascade swiftly forming over there."

Kodak reached up to massage the bridge of his nose -- the central vector from which an irascible headache was now spreading across his frontal lobes. "Alright, both ships are a loss. Not much we can do about the cascades themselves. Focus our efforts on rescuing survivors. Any sign of the away team?" Dread lodged itself in his stomach as the Captain stared at the Bolitx onscreen. The vessel -- like its Haakonian counterpart -- was now becoming enveloped in a slow-moving fog of radiation that was expanding from the location of one of the secondary cargo bays.

"We still can't reach them, sir. I'm sorry, I've tried everything I can," Davies responded despondently. "Until they--"

Suddenly, part of the Talaxian ship's hull buckled and crunched on screen, exploding outward to release a cloud of gases and debris. And from that cloud lanced the Seleya, arcing toward the Adelphi as both the Bolitx and Justiciar continued to succumb to twin metreon cascades behind them. Around the bridge, held breath was released by many, some tension ebbing away as the runabout cleared the radiation's effects.

"The away team reports they are inbound with as many Talaxians as they could save," Davies relayed. "They'll be docking in two minutes."

"Alright, have them take the Talaxians to Cargo Bay 6," Kodak said, deliberately choosing a location several decks away from their Haakonian passengers. The last thing they needed was fist fights in the corridors in response to everything that had just happened.

After several minutes, the evacuation of the Haakonians was complete. When all was said and done, the Adelphi had only been able to save about two-thirds of the Justiciar's crew. On the view screen, both the Talaxian and Haakonian vessels were completely enveloped in metreon clouds, rendering them incapable of supporting life moving forward. For the time being, at least, Adelphi would have to serve as temporary shelter for both crews...at least until a plan was sorted for how to deal things moving forward.

"Captain, would you please join me in the briefing room?" Kodak asked of Va'trel once the immediate danger had passed. As the man rose and moved back the way he'd come only minutes before, the Captain stood as well. "The Bridge is yours, Commander," he nodded to Lenek. "Set course for Delta-Bravo via the Underspace tunnel aperture we've learned about. And have Mister Jasaxar join us in the briefing room. Counselor," the Chameloid said, gesturing the man to join him as well, "we have much to discuss."

*** A post by... ***

Commander Björn Kodak (and NPCs)
Commanding Officer
USS-Adelphi

and

Lieutenant Commander Jason Morris
Chief of Operations / 2XO
USS-Adelphi